Google in talks to invest in chat company Symphony: source

(Reuters) – Google, which has now morphed into holding company Alphabet Inc, is in talks with messaging startup Symphony Communication Services LLC for a round of fundraising, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

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Teen star of YouTube’s Bratayley family dies at age 13

By Daina Beth Solomon LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Teen YouTube star Caleb Logan LeBlanc, part of the popular “Bratayley” family on YouTube known for posting humorous, wholesome daily videos, has died suddenly at age 13, his family and police said. LeBlanc died on Thursday in Maryland following a “medical emergency,” the Anne Arundel County Police Department said in a statement on Monday. “Responding officers arrived and observed a juvenile male patient suffering from an unknown medical emergency

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Amazon, HarperCollins reach multi-year publishing deal: WSJ

(Reuters) – E-commerce company Amazon.com Inc and publisher HarperCollins have reached a new multi-year publishing deal that covers both print and digital titles, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing HarperCollins. The deal calls for HarperCollins, owned by News Corp, to set the retail prices of its digital books, with incentives for HarperCollins to provide lower prices to consumers, the Journal said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

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Hillary Clinton hires Google executive as tech chief

By Emily Stephenson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Likely 2016 Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has hired a Google executive to serve as her chief technology officer, a person familiar with the campaign's planning said on Wednesday. Clinton hired Stephanie Hannon, Google's director of product management for civic innovation and social impact, to run her technology operations, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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Exclusive: IBM looking at adopting bitcoin technology for major currencies

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) – International Business Machines Corp is considering adopting the underlying technology behind bitcoin, known as the “blockchain,” to create a digital cash and payment system for major currencies, according to a person familiar with the matter. The blockchain – a ledger, or list, of all of a digital currency's transactions – is viewed as bitcoin's main technological innovation, allowing users to make payments anonymously, instantly, and without government regulation.

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